Tim Corrigan blogs on cycling, trips and programming…

The first thing to do after volunteering in Tanzania? Go on safari of course! Myself and a small group took the 3 day option incorporating Lake Manyara, Ungorongoro crater and Tarangire national parks with budget camping nearby to the parks rather than in them. 

Highlights include seeing lions mating a few metres away (they didn’t seem to mind!), countless elephants, hippos, zebra, giraffe, monkeys and well you name it really. Ungorongoro in particular is packed with wildlife and it’s not hard to take photographs with a whole host of animals in the same shot. Here is a small selection.

After 7 weeks volunteering and 4 weeks of travelling around Tanzania it was time for that mountain.. the 5895m tallest point in Africa was waiting!

Climbing with 5 from volunteering, 3 others and a whole backup team including hired guides, porters and chefs we elected for the 6 day Machame route, giving a decent amount of time to acclimatise to the altitude. 

The first couple of days were pretty wet – I was drenched through by the time we got to our camp and I don’t think anywone was really dry that night. The walking itself wasn’t too hard going though – I’d compare each of the day walks to walking a significant peak in the UK. 

However the final climb, made at night starting around 11pm to reach the summit around dawn was significantly harder. With altitude sickness affecting everyone to some degree it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done both mentally and physically.

Well worth it though – the summit and sense of achievement were incredible.

Here are few tips if you are thinking of climbing Kilimanjaro:

1. Don’t underestimate the usefulness of lots of decent quality gear (waterproofs, thermals, your own boots that are tried and tested and waterproof).
2. Not a big fan of walking poles myself, I didn’t use them for the final trek to the summit but was glad of them for the descent to take some load off the knees.
3. Reaching the summit is as much about mental strength as anything – just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you’ll get there!
4. If (as for almost everyone) you use a tour company for guides and porters ask them what the conditions are like for the porters – how many will be coming, do they get decent food provided etc. It’s a pretty tough job and I’ve heard some horror stories.

Aside from that I’ll let the photos speak for themselves..

There is plenty to do in and around Livingstone, Zambia, but the highlight for me was a full days white water rafting on the legendary Zambezi river.

18 separate rapids over 24km had us paddling for all we were worth, several people falling over board, swimming through some of the smaller rapids whilst crocodiles watched on from the shore and finally flipping the raft in a rapid and getting repeatedly dunked! This was so much fun! 

Myself and a group volunteers turned travellers drove for a day from Cape Town to reach it and a day back, but it was well worth it. This 216m bungee jump off a bridge is the highest commercially available bungee in the world. 

In retrospect I don’t really know how I came to make the decision to do this – I’d never planned to do a bungee jump, indeed I’d never even really thought about one. But the ever persuasive and adventurous Simon Gamboni sucked a bunch off us into the idea and soon we found ourselves edging out along a wire mesh walkway trying not to look down at the ravine 200m below.

Once at the center of the bridge there is a fairly large platform below the main road level which has suitably pumping dance tunes to get you in the mood and take your mind off the fact you are about to jump head first off the thing! 

When it comes to your turn you are sat down with one guy talking you through what’s going to happen (you don’t hear a word you are so scared) whilst another ties your feet together with the end of the bungee and before you know it you are being shuffled towards the edge of the platform before a quick count and being more or lest pushed (otherwise you’d probably never jump) over the edge! 

It’s then suddenly completely quiet aside from the air rushing past you as you realise you really are falling headfirst off a 216m bridge. The most intense and extreme experience of my life (so far) – and I’m so glad I did it!